Playing video games has been one of the most distinctive dead giveaways when identifying those of the so-called Generation X- those that grew up in the late nineteen-seventies and early eighties. It all started with arcade phenoms like Pong, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Space Invaders. In our home, the Atari 2600 home video game console was unwrapped on Christmas day and held aloft with the near sacrilegious idol worship akin to what may be found in moralistic legends like that of the Golden Calf.

Since the days of the single-button joystick, computer gaming has relentlessly conquered new territories of game play realism. The video game craze, tied to the advancement of the microchip and personal computers, has marched forward with rarely a slip in cadence since those times to become a part of the subsequent Millenials generation, too, but with a catch. That catch, actually a net (pun!), is a result of the triumph of the Internet.

The Internet, although maligned by a public that rarely understands its full potential, and derided by myopic investors still reeling from loosing money because they could not see anything bad in a business plan that comes with glossy brochures, will survive the dot-com bubble-burst to be sure. A key component of the Internet is that it is a community of many communities. Riding the waves of data traffic are Bloggers, Lurkers, Chatters, News Groupies, Browsers, Hackers, and Gamers. Online gaming, a means of bringing ships of people together from all across the ocean of cyberspace, is itself a community of communities.

Perhaps the most prominent grouping to be found amongst online gamers is found in teams of players called Clans. Clans can vary greatly in number, theme, activity, types of games played, skill level, and membership. Often membership is only limited by speed of Internet connection measured in ping and not necessarily by language or nationality. Clans are found composed of real-world played from several nations. Most Clans, however, seems to specialize in certain types of games to varying degrees. Some Clans only focus on one game or just a handful. Clans grow and shrink in membership and some players are freelance- never joining a specific clan, but playing in public (open access) servers or by invite.

I’ve played many games solo and multiplayer over two decades. Lucas Arts, a company pioneered by filmmaker George Lucas of Star Wars fame, is one of many leading computer game producers. Many of the Lucas Arts games are themed after the popular Star Wars universe depicted in the saga. I started off flying X-Wings and TIE Fighters. After taking advice from some friends, I tried the Lucas Arts Jedi Knight series of games an grew an addiction. There’s something just plain fun to grab a light saber and bounce around with other players in a virtual universe based on the mythical world depicted in Star Wars.

Up until recently, I’ve always been content to be freelance. I’ve perused the public web sites of various Clans and concluded that it just wasn’t for me… at least until recently.

Online gaming, especially the combat themed games, runs through a certain demographic that is usually from early teen to late thirties, male, and technology orientated. Online Clans model themselves on elements that are very dark and menacing like the occult or under-worldly, to the more chipper like that of a major sports team. Some take their themes as tongue-in-cheek, others painfully serious. Players, whether part of a Clan or freelance, choose names that are humorous, sly, threatening, cryptic, or even insulting to the point of outright bigotry. The freedom provided by the structural anonymity found in the Internet leaves some to play out feelings that they would otherwise be compelled to suppress in the real-world. Sociability and good manners are often hard to find in such an environment as online computer gaming, but heavy competition in usually in good supply.